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Lot essay

The present large painting by Cornelis Vreedenburgh is delineative for a group of paintings produced in the 1920's depicting activities in and around the Amsterdam harbour. These remarkable paintings are characterised by a light palette which is punctuated by the dark hulls of the ships.

In 1849 the Nederlandsche Zeil- en Roeivereniging founded the Matrozen Instituut, a training institute for sailors. The brig the Pollux which forms the main subject of the present lot, was used as a training ship for this institute between 1913 and 1941. It was mainly docked at the Oosterdokkade in Amsterdam, in the vicinity of the train station and the city centre.

The picturesque two-master is square-rigged like a ship's fore- and main masts, but also carries on her main-mast a lower fore-and-aft sail with a gaff and boom. She was replaced by a new vessel, also called Pollux, in 1941.

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